Snake On A Pole

“This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come upon us. 15 Our forefathers went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers, 16 but when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.

“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. 17 Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the king’s highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

18 But Edom answered:

“You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”

19 The Israelites replied:

“We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”

20 Again they answered:

“You may not pass through.”

Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. 21 Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.

Numbers 21:4-9

The Bronze Snake

4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. (NIV)

John 3:14-21

14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

2 Kings 18:1-4 (NIV)Hezekiah King of Judah

18In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijaha daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it.

(It was calledb Nehushtan.c)

THOUGHTS

EDOM REFUSED TO LET ISRAEL PASS THROUGH THEIR LAND.

THE EDOMITES WERE THE COUSINS OF THE ISRAELITES.

JACOB (ISRAEL) AND ESAU (EDOM) WERE TWIN BROTHERS.

NOW THE ISRAELITES HAD TO GO ALL THE WAY AROUND EDOM. IT WAS A LONG AND ARUDOUS JOURNEY.

THEY BEGAN TO DO WHAT THEY DID BEST.

GRUMBLE AND COMPLAIN.

THEY COMPLAINED ABOUT THE WATER, THE FOOD AND ESPECIALLY THE MANNA.

GOD SENT SNAKES

THE PEOPLE REPENTED.

GOD PROVIDED HEALING BY HAVING THEM LOOK AT THE SNAKE ON THE POLE.

THE SNAKE REPRESENTS SIN

IT WAS THE SNAKE THAT TALKED EVE INTO FIRST TASTING THE FRUIT IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

IT WAS THE SNAKE ON THE POLE THAT GAVE HEALING

IT WAS THE SIN ON THE POLE THAT GAVE HEALING.

IT WAS JESUS ON THE CROSS THAT GIVES HEALING

IT WAS JESUS ON THE CROSS THAT GIVES SALVATION.

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a Hebrew Abi, a variant of Abijah

b Or He called it

c Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for bronze and snake and unclean thing.